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The mega deal drought that lasted more than half-a-year was finally broken by the third quarter of 2002. The last private equity transaction that exceeded $100 million took place back in March when US-based Farallon Capital invested $520 million into Indonesia's Bank of Central Asia. By the two months ending mid-September, however, three transactions were, or were in the process of being, completed. Their combined transaction total would command an amount in the vicinity of $620 million (figure 1). All three transactions were undertaken by the Asian arms of global private equity houses. At a time when the Asian private equity industry is facing its most extensive consolidation to-date, the active participation of these non-indigenous Asian firms is not only a pledge of faith in the regional market, but also an affirmation of their central position in driving forward private equity outside of Japan.

After graduating in Economics and Law from the University of Sydney in 1977, Andrew worked in resource and industrial project development, and focused on identifying opportunities for adding value in the Australian resource sector.

The Securities (Miscellaneous) (Amendment) Rules 2002, which came into effect on November 15 2002, introduced new exemptions for section 80 of the Securities Ordinance for relieving prohibition of the uncovered short selling of securities.

On November 7 2002, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the People's Bank of China jointly issued the Interim Measures on Administration of Domestic Securities Investment of Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII). These measures allow foreign investors to invest in publicly traded, yuan-denominated A shares, treasury and corporate bonds listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. The new rules became effective December 1.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has brought its first cases against companies allegedly breaking Regulation Fair Disclosure, a rule designed to prevent selective disclosure of corporate information.

European competition regulators will not go easy on the financial services industry just because they are keen to promote a single financial market, according to competition commissioner Mario Monti.

Auditors play only a small role in keeping a company honest. But in a bid to reassure investors after a spate of corporate scandals, the Australian government is wrongly limiting its reforms to the audit function, says Alison Lansley of Mallesons Stephen Jaques

The Indian parliament passed the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) (Amendment) Bill 2002 on December 2, giving more powers - including search and seizure rights - to SEBI. The amendments introduce new standards for investor protection and regulation of the securities market.

Simon Orton of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer looks at how the UK's new regulator has performed during its first 12 months, and predicts where it will focus attention in 2003

The Ministry of National Economy has unveiled draft legislation setting out the framework for corporate bonds and securitization operations. The purpose of the new rules is to modernize existing legislation on bond issuance and provide Greek companies with new sources of funding. While the government itself has made some use of securitization in recent years, existing legal rules are quite unfavourable, as far as corporates are concerned. The draft attempts to correct this situation by providing a new set of regulations on the issuance of bonds backed by assets, including real estate and monetary claims against third parties, by Greek societe anonymes, as well as some necessary tax relief. New rules on issuing bonds are also proposed, at a time when the use of debt as a means of raising capital is being encouraged by the Athens Exchange and the Ministry of National Economy. It will become possible to issue bonds following a decision to do so by a company's board of directors, rather than needing a shareholders' decision as before.